Friday, 12/30/16

Spent the night at the Marriott down the road as a little post-Christmas treat for Carter (unfortunately he had a cold and wasn't feeling his best). We hit the hot tub, got a pizza from Athena's and watched Clerks II.

Marriott: not as fun or nice as the Porches, but cheaper and so much closer.

The pool was only slightly bigger than the hot tub

Thursday, 12/29/16

Didn't really have anything planned for dinner so I used up a lot of various things and mixed them with orzo. Poached chicken, cherry tomatoes, spinach, broccoli....finished with the reduced poaching liquid, a little butter and some parmesan. Tasted good and saved a few things from lingering in the crisper.

Wednesday, 12/28/16

Ground pork (from Cravings, only she used ground chicken and we didn't bother with lettuce cups), green beans and rice. Very flavorful; if I don't remember to copy the recipe I think the main things to remember are lots of ginger and garlic, and the addition of hoisin sauce. I can probably wing it next time. Last time I made green beans they were so tasty but somehow I didn't take note of what exactly I did to them so I just tried to remember. They weren't as good and I want to kick myself.

Tuesday, 12/27/16

We tried to duplicate some favorites from our weekend travels: roasted sweet potatoes (not as good as Jeff's: maybe his enormous CSA specimens were the reason?), potato pancakes (also not as good, probably because I carelessly pulverized some of the potatoes in the food processor. Next time I stick to the box grater), and chicken baked with a maple-mustard sauce (from Jennie and David's: mine was almost as good, but not quite. Who knows why?).
So a good, if not great meal.

ps Also some broccoli, inspired by no one, but my boy deserves the occasional green vegetable.

Monday, 12/26/16

A lot of challah in the freezer? French toast, of course! It was well-liked. I also served bacon and a zucchini gratin (repeated the Ina Garten recipe).  That was my favorite part and I think it would also be good with broccoli or cauliflower. I realized that just because I was serving breakfast dishes for dinner I didn't have to come up with some kind of "breakfast" vegetable and could make whatever I wanted. Also, those zucchini were starting to look at me reproachfully every time I opened the crisper.

Sunday, 12/25/16

Merry Christmas! Lunch at my parents. Turns out not that many people like sushi. My dad and I had to eat the bulk of it. So sad! My mom also made meatballs, little hot dogs, homemade bacon-horseradish dip, brie and raspberry jam and more. So delicious and fun. I brought two desserts but we never even ate them. It may have been just as well since I think subbing in buckwheat flour for almond flour in my brown sugar cake was a mistake. And my chocolate cream pie is only so-so. Even as I was making the filling it struck me as too much cornstarch....I am losing all my baking confidence.

Saturday, 12/24/16

Dinner with Jennie and David; since it was Christmas Eve we all sat at the table and had dinner together---it was really nice! David made some chicken with mustard and maple that Carter loved, we brought another challah (slightly stale, dammit!) and more hamantaschen (again, unloved. I knew it) and some crunchy chocolate nuts (from SK). I think the champagne was our most popular contribution.

Friday, 12/23/16

We visited Jeff and Sue in Westford; latkes, soup and salad for dinner. The potato pancakes turned out really well #norecipe); we brought a challah (very popular) and hamantaschen (unloved. they aren't very festive unless you are celebrating Purim, I guess). Tasty, fun and jolly.

Thursday, 12/22/16

Jason and I had an enormous lunch at UMass, so we were not particularly hungry for the black bean soup and homemade bread. The soup was fine (I don't think anyone gets too excited for black bean soup which makes me wonder why I keep making it? Cheap and easy, I guess), and the bread was lovely.

Wednesday, 12/21/16

Sushi bowl, with avocado, tuna and cucumber. No leftovers.

Tuesday, 12/20/16

One of my favorite foods, pasta with a creamy broccoli sauce (from SK). I use a lot more broccoli than she calls for, and added some leftover ricotta that I had on hand. So good. it just occurred to me that lemon zest would be a good addition. Also had some kielbasa for my carnivorous family members.

Monday, 12/19/15

Jason was off examining students, so Carter and I ordered in wings. I had some chard and Carter had some peas to assuage our nutritional guilt.

Sunday, 12/18/16

Dinner at Jennie and David's: Jason made onion bread, I made brownies with caramel and brought some of the pizzelle. I think the pizzelle were more popular which just reinforced my desire for a maker.
At least people at work liked the brownies.

Saturday, 12/17/16

A snowy Craft Day (aka Crap Day, aka Longest Day of the Year) at Jen's. So much making and dipping and packaging! Jen and Laurie made it all pretty; my beeswax wraps went unloved, and now I need a pizelle iron. Fun and utterly exhausting.

Maybe a quarter of the bounty?

Luckily, Jason swooped in and made a couple of pizzas. Spinach and ricotta was particularly delicious.

Friday, 12/16/16

Family Relaxation Night for what felt like the first time in a while. I made a batch of samosas (from a 2014 issue of Saveur) and two chutneys (tamarind also from Saveur, cilantro from My Bombay Kitchen) I was feeling lazy, so I baked the samosas instead of frying them and that was a great option! Tasted just as good and so much cleaner and easier. I also made a small batch of paneer and fried it up in a chile-tomato sort of sauce also from MBK. Carter didn't like it but Jason and I did. Finally some veggie pakoras from Trader Joe's which were fine.

Thursday, 12/15/16

Tried a new chicken Marsala recipe from Serious Eats, and it left me wondering, why did I try a new recipe? My old one (that is to say, no real recipe) is fine. I guess I was intrigued by the notion of adding gelatin to the stock to add body, but it was not noticeable and the recipe as written was a little thin and blah.It ended up fine though, alongside some orzo and roasted cauliflower with pomegranate seeds.

Wednesday, 12/14/16

Dinner with my mom at Bub's BBQ. I had not been there in probably over 20 years, and I was pleasantly surprised! I could have filled up on macaroni and cheese alone.

Tuesday, 12/13/16

Two part tofu: roasted, with broccoli, noodles and soy sauce for Carter (at his plaintive request), roasted, with broccoli rabe and peanut sauce for Jason and me. The bitter greens were a nice counterpoint to the rich sauce (from Cravings, again, although I fiddled with it quite a bit). Your basic weeknight tofu dinner.

Monday, 12/12/16

Jason asked (demanded?) that we have nachos for dinner because we had the ingredients languishing around. I groused a bit, but honestly being told that you HAVE to have nachos for dinner is kind of a dream come true. I mean, I had to do it! Made a little bit of guacamole and served them with roasted sweet potatoes.

Sunday, 12/11/16

Carter's choice: fried chicken (Popeye's style), plus baked potatoes (we all had different vegetables because apparently I run a diner? Broccoli for Carter, coleslaw for Jason and sweet potatoes for me).. I used boneless, brined chicken breasts and they turned out very crunchy and juicy. I also made a cream gravy from Serious Eats (I omitted the garlic this time). Not necessary, but good and peppery. No pictures because it was not a photogenic meal.

Saturday, 12/10/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. Jason made an exemplary loaf of bread, and I made another batch of the cinnamon-swirl cookies, plus another new Dorie recipe. These little chocolate waffles come together quickly, are super-cute AND tasty. The chocolate dip you make to serve with  them takes them over the top. They are a little soft after a few hours, but a couple of minutes in a toaster oven makes them crisp (although they are also good soft).

Friday, 12/9/16

Open House at Jen's beautiful little craft studio.  The traffic was nuts, and we didn't really have any dinner, had to stay late to sober up a bit....
But I did make some really good cookies, and ironically they are NOT from my new cookie book. They are from a cookbook called "Marbled, Swirled and Layered" which is kind of a dumb name. But these cinnamon swirl cookies are definitely going into my regular rotation. They aren't even particularly hard to make. My only (tiny) criticism is that the glaze wasn't that great, so I just left it off most of them.

Thursday, 12/8/16

Sweet potato and potato curry, sort of from My Bombay Kitchen. I threw this in the slow cooker before work, and it was perfectly nice (and economical), but nothing special. Roasted some cauliflower to go with it (and rice, of course). I had a little chaat powder to add at the table which added a welcome brightness.

Wednesday, 12/7/16

Dinner in Whately...lots of tasty mexican foods, cornbread, taquitos, fajitas.  We brought some caramel-chocolate almonds that I frantically made in the morning.The recipe is from SK, and they are relatively easy even though I forgot to roll them in sparkly sugar before the chocolate set. That's OK, I'll make then again (maybe with mixed nuts?) next weekend. Could be fun to spice them a little, too. Although there is no need as they are terrific as is.

Tuesday, 12/6/16

A repeat of baked rice with feta and mint. I still didn't have any mint, but I did have more of the ingredients on hand than last time I made this (back in December 2015). Carter skipped the topping (pomegranate, pomegranate molasses, almonds, parsley and olives) and put soy sauce on his rice instead. His loss. I am slightly abashed to admit that I served this with fish sticks, and that I didn't have time/oven space to make a vegetable. Still, the rice was fancy and tasty.

Monday, 12/5/16

The ever popular breakfast-for-dinner. Scrambled eggs with scallions, homefries with melted cheese. Two salsas. I ate some broccoli but no one else did so I feel fairly superior, nutrition-wise.
Lately all I want to eat are things with lots of melted cheese.

Sunday, 12/5/16

We got home early from the Hot Chocolate Run and I had taken the day off so it was time to do some baking. Made a couple of loaves of challah and some biscotti. We had green chile macaroni and cheese for dinner (which I have managed not to make for a whole year!). I love it so, so much, what can I say? Threw in some broccoli so I felt healthier.

Saturday, 12/3/16

Dinner with Jennie and David. Onion bread and a butterscotch pie from Mario Batali. I had several issues with this pie: who thinks you can fully blind bake a crust in 12 minutes? Plus it didn't fully set up. There was no salt or vanilla in the recipe which maybe was meant to showcase the butterscotch taste? But would have been bland. It just felt poorly written. The final problem was my own fault because I added a bit of molasses (to bump my light brown sugar up to dark) and the flavor sort of hijacked the pie. I probably won't make this version again and my search for the best butterscotch pudding goes on.
Also, cheese wafers from the Dorie cookbook. Perfectly tasty but not revelatory. Maybe I haven't made the best choices but nothing from the book has blown me away yet.

Friday, 12/2/16

Town holiday party meant I wasn't home for dinner, but Jason made a very meaty pizza. I was still hungry when I got home so I had a slice. Dense but tasty. I also tried out another Dorie cookie recipe this week: her new iteration of chocolate chips. She adds a tiny bit of coriander and nutmeg (barely noticeable) and swaps in some whole wheat flour. Like most chocolate chip cookies, they were great right after baking, but less so as the days went on. They produce a fairly fat and chewy cookie---I think I like them a bit better on the chewy-crispy cusp.

Thursday, 12/1/16

Poached chicken and rice, from the NYT. Much, much more delicious than it sounds: the chicken is poached in a spicy, gingery-y broth, chopped and served over rice with two sauces: a sweet soy and a spicy ginger/garlic sauce. Garnished with cilantro, cucumbers, scallions and sesame oil, this was one of my favorite meals of the week. We added some broccoli but greens would also have been good.

#familyfavorite

Wednesday, 11/30/16

Just leftovers: made a quick turkey soup, finished the bread and the zucchini. Still a lot in that refrigerator, but not as bad.